The Global Indoor Football League (GIFL) has rebranded to Global Indoor League (GIL). The making of this league has taken over three years, but now it's finally here.  Tooker Flags will be the official challenge and penalty flag. The GIL will be 3 down Canadian rules football and is scheduled to kick off in May 2017. Teams are yet to be announced. The league has been in contact with markets that have never had an indoor team and markets that currently have an indoor team. The GIL is based out of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada and founded by David Parsons. The league has been in serious talks with an online streaming service for games and an official announcement will be made in January once the deal is official. The league plans to have 6-8 teams in the United States and Canada. The league plans to have a regional footprint in the Great Lakes area.

The Cleveland Gladiators of the AFL have hired Ron Selesky as their new head coach. Selesky had previously served as defensive coordinator and assistant head coach for the team. He's also served as Director of Football Operations and Director of Player Personnel. Selesky has been with the franchise for the last six out of seven seasons. In 2014 Cleveland recorded a historic 17-1 regular season record, made the American Conference Championship, and reached ArenaBowl 27. That season, Selesky headed their defense which received the nickname "No Fly Zone" picking up a league leading 17 fumbles and allowing the third fewest points by any team at 43.4 points per game. That year Selesky received the title of AFL assistant coach of the year. During 2015, Selesky served as a U.S. scout for the Canadian Football League's Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Arena Football Talk is proud to announce a partnership with Last Word on Sports. This partnership will allow both platforms to be able to get more information and provide more coverage on the CIF, IFL, AFL, and NAL. Even though we've partnered with LWOS we're still two different platforms. To join us please use the contact form on our website and if you're interested in joining the LWOS department for indoor/arena football you have to contact them or apply to LWOS.

According to Daniel Weiss of Brooklyn Baseball Banter, the Brooklyn Bolts and the Blacktips, which were a travel team in the now defunct FXFL could be heading indoors. The article says that Brian Woods, who was commissioner of the FXFL has looked at multiple venues and leagues all over the United States. For the Bolts, the most sense geographically would be the Arena Football League (AFL) or the National Arena League (NAL). The AFL will have five teams starting this season, the Tampa Bay Storm, Philadelphia Soul, Cleveland Gladiators, Washington Valor, and the yet to be named team in Baltimore, Maryland. The NAL will kick off their inaugural season this year with 8 teams including one in Mexico. The Blacktips could join any league since they were a travel team. Gear from the FXFL could be reused since the only thing they'd have to change would be the logo on the back of the helmet and then add any league's logo to the uniform. The NAL is rumored for expansion in New York, but the city rumored is Buffalo, but that city could be Brooklyn if the Bolts keep their Brooklyn name and play at Barclays Center. If Buffalo gets a team, the Bolts could be the second expansion team in New York. If New York gets a Buffalo franchise or the Bolts, they'd be the first arena football team in New York since the New York Dragons folded after the 2008 AFL season. In the article by Daniel Weiss the AFL is the only league mentioned, but it did say that Woods is looking at places across the country. If the Bolts were to join the AFL and play at Barclays Center they'd be the 6th team in the league and then if the Blacktips found a city they'd be the 7th team. The AFL is struggling after Portland and Los Angeles folded, while Orlando suspended operations, and the defending champion, Arizona Rattlers left for the Indoor Football League (IFL) so the addition of one or even two franchises would give the league more stability and growth. The NAL is rumored to be expanding to a much larger amount of teams for the 2018 season so don't be surprised if you see the Bolts and possibly the Blacktips join next season.

In just one off-season times the indoor/arena football landscape has changed a lot. The Arena Football League (AFL) is now at five teams and Champions Indoor Football (CIF) lost one team while adding three others for a total of 14 teams. The Indoor Football League (IFL) lost two teams in the Billings Wolves who folded and the Tri-Cities Fever who went dormant, but gained two teams in the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles by expansion and the Arizona Rattlers who transferred from the AFL to bring the IFL to ten teams. The IFL did pass on the bid by another former AFL franchise, the Jacksonville Sharks because it was outside the league's territory. The IFL is rumored to be adding the Portland Thunder in 2018, a former AFL franchise that went dormant in 2016 when the AFL took over the franchise and renamed them the Steel. The Portland Steel were folded by the league after one season. Also during this past off-season, American Indoor Football (AIF) folded. Teams either folded, joined CIF or one of the three new leagues, Supreme Indoor Football (SIF), Arena Pro Football (APF) which partnered with United States Indoor Football (USIF) and Can-Am Indoor Football, or the National Arena League (NAL). The NAL is a new premier arena football league with teams in Mexico and the United States. They'll play their first season with eight teams and have plans for major expansion in 2018. The NAL was created by Columbus Lions owner Skip Seda and was originally called the Arena Developmental League (ADL). The league changed their name when they acquired a former AFL franchise, the Jacksonville Sharks. The NAL was planning on having a couple more teams but they left for SIF and APF. There was a chance of a New Jersey franchise in 2017 that would've had the league starting play with nine teams, but they didn't get everything in by the deadline, so they'll most likely join in 2018 along with other cities. There's a possibility that former AFL franchise, the Orlando Predators join the NAL in 2018 and become the second NAL franchise in Florida. There's also possibilities of a Houston franchise in 2018 in addition to other cities in the Midwest. The Orlando Predators, former AFL franchise are also rumored to be joining the NAL for the 2018 season. The NAL and IFL will be true powerhouse leagues in 2017, and 2018 should be just as exciting, if not more exciting with those expansion rumors. Stay tuned everyone and get ready for some hard hitting action!

Originally called the Arena Developmental League (ADL), the NAL was founded in June 2016 by Columbus Lions owner Skip Seda and father Keke Seda in the wake of several small indoor leagues folding and teams jumping to other leagues. The league plans to start their inaugural season in March of 2017. On November 18, 2016, the league announced it had changed their name to National Arena League. As part of the change in name, the league management was also restructured so that it was no longer managed by Lions' owner Skip Seda, but was instead managed by all member teams equally. Later that same day, the league added the former AFL team, the Jacksonville Sharks. The owners of the league have so much experience in the Arena Football industry, and that will help this league and all of the teams in it maintain a long term future. The Columbus Lions and Jacksonville Sharks are the most experienced teams in the league. Jacksonville has played in the AFL which was the highest tier of arena football, but now it has died down and in my opinion the NAL has replaced the AFL. The league will have a total of 8 teams with one team in Monterrey, Mexico. The Monterrey Steel, were added to the league on November 20th, 2016. The Steel become the first team outside of the US to play in an American indoor/arena football league since since the Toronto Phantoms of the AFL (2001–2002).

We are proud to announce that we have made drastic and much needed changes to our page! We have added a new blog where we will post insider info and then share it on to our social media pages. Also, the CIF will now be covered on our page. Champions Indoor Football (CIF) is a professional indoor American football league created in 2014 out of the merger between the Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL) and Lone Star Football League (LSFL), plus one team from the Indoor Football League and two expansion teams. They are growing and becoming a great league! Last but not least we have added the corresponding league cover photo to the corresponding league's page.

​OVERVIEW OF CHANGES:
-New Blog
-CIF added
-Corresponding league cover photos added to the corresponding league's pages